February 1, 2015

Tokyo

Relative to Japan’s economic power, Tokyo has not performed very well as an IFC. A 2011 paper published by the “China Center at Brookings” entitled, “Building A Global Financial Center in Shanghai: Observations from Other Centers”, nominated Tokyo as “an example of a potential global financial centre whose governmental policies and overall structure of business and government held it back from gaining true global status, despite major advantages”. These advantages include: a large pool of private savings; some of the largest financial institutions in the world; an educated and hardworking labour force; and a high quality of life. “Clearly, the bursting of its major bubbles in real estate and equity markets, followed by well over a decade of anemic overall […]